Church History, Volume 2 (of 3)Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
History
Church History, Volume 2 (of 3)
Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Church history
§ 115.13. =Architecture and Painting= (§ 104, 12, 14)--=Gothic
architecture= was the prevailing style in the churches of
Germany, France, and England. In Italy, the humanist movement
(§ 120, 1) led to the imitation of ancient classical models,
and thus the Renaissance style was introduced, which flourished
for 300 years. Its real creator was the Florentine Bruneleschi,
who won imperishable renown by the grand cupola of the cathedral
of Florence. Bramante, died A.D. 1514, marks the transition
from the earlier Renaissance of the 15th century to the later
of the 16th, at the summit of which stands Michael Angelo,
A.D. 1474-1564. After a plan of Bramante Julius II., in
A.D. 1506, began the magnificent reconstruction of St. Peter’s
at Rome, the execution of which in its gigantic proportions
occupied the reigns of twenty popes. It was completed under
Urban VIII., in A.D. 1636. This great building, in consequence
of the traffic in indulgences, entered on to defray its cost,
became the occasion of the loss to the papacy of the half
of western Christendom.--Sacred =Statuary=, in the hands of
Ghiberti, died A.D. 1455, and Michael Angelo, reached the
highest stage of excellence.--Of =Painting=, the Augustan
age of which was the 15th century, there were properly four
schools. Giotto, who died in A.D. 1336, was founder of the
Florentine school, which was specially distinguished by its
delineations of sacred history. To it belonged the Dominican
Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, who painted only as he prayed,
Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Bartolomeo, and Michael Angelo. Then
there was the Lombard or Venetian School, at the head of
which stands Giovanni Bellini, died A.D. 1516, which turned
away from the church and applied itself with its fresh living
colouring to the depicting of earthly ideals. Its most eminent
representatives were Correggio, died A.D. 1534, and Titian,
died A.D. 1576. In the Umbrian school, again, the spirit of
St. Francis continued still to breathe. Its greatest master
was Raphael of Urbino, the noblest and most renowned of all
Christian painters, distinguished also as an architect. The
German school had its ablest representatives in the brothers
Hubert and John van Eyk, Albert Dürer, and Hans Holbein the
Elder.--Continuation § 149, 15.
§ 116. POPULAR MOVEMENTS.
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